The Leopard's Spots
First edition cover | |
Author | Thomas Dixon |
---|---|
Illustrator | C. D. Williams |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Doubleday, Page & Co. |
Publication date | 1902 |
Media type | |
OCLC | 12852953 |
The Leopard's Spots is the first novel of Thomas Dixon's Ku Klux Klan trilogy that included The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan and The Traitor.[1] In the novel Dixon offers an account of Reconstruction in which he portrays a former slave driver, Northern carpetbaggers, and emancipated slaves as the villains; and heroes as members of the Ku Klux Klan. The novel served as one of the sources for D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation.
The title refers to a passage from the Biblical Book of Jeremiah 13:23 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil" (KJV). The title conveyed the idea that as leopards could not change their spots, people of African origin could not change their inherently corrupt character.
Characters
Charles Gaston – A man who dreams of making it to the Governor's Mansion
Sallie Worth – A daughter of the old-fashioned South
Gen. Daniel Worth – Sallie Worth's father
Mrs. Worth – Sallie's mother
The Rev. John Durham – A preacher who threw his life away
Tom Camp – A Confederate soldier
Flora – Tom's daughter
Simon Legree – Ex-slave driver and Reconstruction leader
Allan Mcleod – A scalawag (Union sympathizer)
Everett Lowell – Member of Congress from Boston
Helen Lowell – Everett's daughter
Major Stuart Dameron – Head of the Ku Klux Klan
Hose Norman – poor white man
Hon. Tim Shelby – Political Boss
George Harris, Jr – An educated Negro
Leonidas
References
- ↑ Andrew Leitner, "Thomas Dixon, Jr.: Conflicts in History and Literature", Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina, accessed Jun 12, 2008
Further reading
- Bloomfield, Maxwell. "Dixon's "The Leopard's Spots": A Study in Popular Racism," American Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (Autumn, 1964), pp. 387–401 in JSTOR
External links
- Full text of The Leopard's Spots, Documenting the American South, University of North Carolina